Favorite (Electronic) Album of 1991

1992

sorry to sidetrack, as I know this thread is meant to discuss electronic albums released in 1991. but when I think about 1991 in musical terms, my mind immediately defaults to all the classic grunge/alternative albums that came out that year, as this is the stuff I was listening to at the time. such as:

Nirvana - Nevermind

RHCP - Blood Sugar

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

Pearl Jam - Ten

Metallica - black album

GnR - Use Your Illusions

and also the r'nb ones, massively popular back then, like:

Prince - Diamonds and Pearls

Michael Jackson - Dangerous

Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony

PM Dawn - Of the Heart of The Soul

I don't think I knew much about what most of us refer to as electronic music until later in the '90s. I remember seeing the Aphex On video in like '94. if you knew about Aphex in '91, then you are OG.

I was 17 in 1991, albums I actually bought and listened to that year included: 30 Something - Carter USM, Nevermind - Nirvana, Seal - Seal, De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul, The White Room - KLF, Woodface - Crowded House, Trompe le Monde - Pixies, Schubert Dip - EMF, Diamons and Pearls - Prince, Ex:El - 808 State, Chorus - Erasure, We Can't Dance - Genesis, Achtung Baby - U2 ...

Of those, the ones across all genres that stood the test of time for me were Carter, Massive Attack, Nirvana, Crowded House and the Pixies.

If we're asking best Electronic album of the ones I actually had that year, I'd say The White Room by KLF, because it actually _worked_ as an album and the KLF were tearing up the rulebook that year by being simultaneouly very poppy and also very subversive, whereas Ex:El had a few great tracks and lots of forgettable ones. That said, I don't think I've listened to The White Room since about 1992 so would be fun to listen again.

Or maybe we should say Blue Lines by Massive Attack because it was a very solid album that is good all the way through and way ahead of its time in the way that it was an album by a bunch of producers with a bunch of different guest vocalists but the 'band' weren't the vocalists, the 'band' were the producers and it was a very competent synthesis of electronic stuff and hip hop stuff and regular stuff. And at the time no-one knew how to define it, are they rappers? Are they a hip hip group? But looking back you can see it was all about production. Which we're familiar with now but it was novel back then.

If we ignore what music I actually had then, then I'd definitely say The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld because its an absolute monster of an album that established that 'dance' music wasn't actually anything to do with dancing for most people, it was about sitting on a train staring out the window or sitting in your room getting caned. I didn't discover that album till a few years later.
 

:zoviet*france: ‎– Shadow, Thief Of The Sun

Genre: Electronic

Style: Ambient, Experimental, Industrial

Year: 1991

Yeah I'm with @beerwolf and @zero, was mostly listening to rock at the time. Starting to transition from metal and hard rock to more alternative, punk, and industrial. Then hip-hop, and a few more years before I got into actual electronic music. There were hints in the industrial music I listened to of course, and stuff like MC 900FT Jesus and mid-90s PWEI, but I think it was hearing Underworld's "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You" (with projected video) in a club that set me on the path. But I can't recall if that was actually 94 or slightly later. 95 is my best guess.

only one even remotely close to ultraworld is fsol but even that has nothing on the former. it's funny -- i've never actually thought about the best '91 album ever but now that i have and seen every other lame response it's never been more clear

  On 10/27/2021 at 10:36 AM, xy_politics said:

Nah, 1981

computerwelt. why even try.

No matter (edit)

Orbital, hell yeah

High tech high life